On Doctors' Day, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari took a swipe at the previous TMC government in West Bengal, saying it had left the state's public healthcare system in a "dilapidated" condition and that his administration was dealing with the consequences.
The day is observed in honour of noted physician and former West Bengal chief minister Bidhan Chandra Roy, whose birth and death anniversaries both fall on July 1.
Speaking at an event to mark the occasion, Adhikari highlighted the condition of state-run hospitals in West Bengal.
"Is this deteriorated condition of the state's hospitals desirable? West Bengal has the talent to compete with any country in the world. But what happened during the previous government's tenure?" he said.
Calling for a unified approach to reviving the state's healthcare sector, the state's first BJP chief minister urged everyone to work together to pull the state's health infrastructure out of its "dilapidated" condition.
"We have to revive the state's healthcare infrastructure. I urge all to come together for this," Adhikari said.
The chief minister said that while attempting to implement new initiatives, he was constantly encountering the effects of what he described as years of "administrative decay".
Adhikari referred to a remark once made by former chief minister Jyoti Basu. "(Jyoti) Basu had said that wherever he wanted to begin work, he found that Dr Roy had already laid the foundation. My situation is the opposite. Wherever I want to begin work, I find destruction," he said.
At the programme at Mayukh Bhavan in Salt Lake, the chief minister also announced that Bidhannagar Sub-Divisional Hospital would be renamed 'Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy Multispeciality Hospital'.
The programme was also attended by state Health Minister Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay, Urban Development Minister Agnimitra Pal, and several other dignitaries.
(With inputs from PTI)
